Photodissociation in a Quadrupole Ion Trap

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Professor Jennifer Brodbelt of the University of Texas Austin will work with Professor Alan Marchand of the University of North Texas on a project in bioanalytical chemistry supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program. This project aims to study and improve photodissociation methods in the quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer for analysis of peptides and proteins. The approach will be to complex the analyte species with metal ions and/or organic ligands that will more effectively absorb photons from the photodissociation laser and thus transfer sufficient energy to the analyte for fragmentation. Optimization of photodissociation will also be explored for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The proposed work combines the expertise of Professor Broadbelt in mass spectrometry (MS) and ion chemistry, and Professor Marchand in synthesis and macrocyclic chemistry. Prof. Brodbelt's group has published extensively on the two building blocks of the proposed research-first, photodissociation of organic and biological compounds, and second, enhancement of ion activation (collision-induced dissociation) through complex formation. The present work brings these two lines of research together, and extends them to potential applications involving HPLC-MS. HPLC-MS analysis of peptides and proteins is an important tool for proteomics, but would benefit from the improved ion activation techniques explored here. The collaboration with Prof. Marchand, whose group will synthesize novel ligands for complexation, allows cross training that will be valuable for students in both the analytical chemistry and organic chemistry groups.